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The latest Shigeru Ban paper tube building has opened at IE University in Madrid, Spain. Elsewhere, Ban built the paper tube Nomadic Museum in New York City on a Hudson River pier in 2007, a Camper retail store in New York’s Soho neighborhood, and now in Christchurch, New Zealand he is constructing an A-Frame cathedral out of the temporary, eminently efficient material. The Madrid University building took only two weeks to build, is based on sustainability objectives, and there was a requirement that it be a temporary construction. It is made of 173 paper tubes held together by timber joints that rest on paper columns.

(Courtesy IE University)

“One of the main challenges in any project is that the design must take into consideration the specific characteristics of the location. In this case, we used an existing wall and kept the pavilion as far as possible from the adjacent building,” Shigeru Ban said in a statement. “I try to use local firms for my work. In this case the tubes, for example, were made in Zaragoza.” Shigeru Ban also pointed out that students from IE School of Architecture took part in assembling the paper tubes, and underscored how important it was as an educational experience for them.